Overloading at Himachal entry points to invite penalty for truckers

Shimla: Cracking down on the goods carriers found loading vehicles beyond prescribed limits, Himachal government has decided to impose heavy penalty on drivers of such trucks.

“The trucks carrying goods beyond limit would be penalised at the entry point for the offence”, a spokesman of the Transport department said.

The state government has identified 39 such entry points on the direction of Supreme Court, where weighing machines would be installed for checking, he said adding nine weighing machines have been installed and made functional. For checking light, medium and heavy vehicles, Rs 30, 50 and 100 would be charged respectively and in case the vehicle was found overloaded, Rs 2,000 would be fined on the spot with unloading of vehicles immediately and the driver would be held accountable for the offense.

He said the state Transport department has also fixed Rs 1,000 for every tonne of overloaded goods. The provision for imposing penalty on overloaded vehicles has already existed under section 114 of Motor Vehicle Act but was not being implemented. But now the Supreme Court has directed all state governments to enforce the provision effectively.